fbpx Skip to main content

Toward a Shared Language of Architecture:
Virtual Reality Home Design

Traditional Floor Plan

A Valuable Method of Communication

Scalable drawings are used to illustrate and communicate spatial relationships. For most it takes years to achieve expertise. Their use is fairly limited.

A Modern 3D Floor Plan

Better decisions through better communication

As the challenges and complexities of your home's design increase, the more important it becomes to gain clarity and understanding.

Virtual Reality Home Design

Until recently, it was a challenge for clients to look at 2D drawings of their future home and understand, much less visualize, that space. For many, it was a matter of blind trust that everything would work out and look good. And it would. At times during the design and construction phase, it was almost like the clients and the architect/construction team spoke two different languages. Now because of Virtual Reality home design, we can all share the language of architecture.

Communication

With Virtual Reality home design (VR), we are finally communicating in a language everyone understands instead of speaking in technical language to describe a building. People spend years learning to create, read, and understand architectural drawings. Paralleling that, clients may spend years saving for and imagining their dream home. Releasing the concept or dream they have and trying to decide whether what they are looking at in 2D drawings fulfills that dream is hard. That’s true even when the architect is saying, “I’ve heard you and synthesized what you want, trust me.”

To some degree, clients understand images like models and renderings. But more recently, with the fees being compressed due to economic circumstances, people are sensitive to how much they are paying. There is less emphasis on models and hiring an artist. So now, clients want the drawings to get a permit rather than hire an artist.

Immersive Experience

Virtual Reality Home Design is a language that is universally understood. The client rarely needs to see the drawings if they can see –– and understand –– using VR tools, like Google Cardboard and augmented reality. You already know this advantage if you’ve used a VR headset like HTC Vive. This gives them a better home because it’s one that they understand and can give feedback on. In the past, there was the possibility, sometimes realistic, that a vague drawing masks an unusual design. Now, the architect has to stand behind that and explain via 3D.

The most basic of architectural drawings is the floor plan, which is also the least expressive of the design. It is flat and diagrams the design and where the furniture goes, but its form can be very deceptive. If that’s all the clients see, they might not get what they want. HGTV is full of examples where doors don’t close, or furniture doesn’t fit, not to mention the interior design. I use 3D floor plans (Virtual Reality home design), the floor plan with the walls slightly extruded to provide a sense of scale and form. With a little dimension added, what was so foreign becomes so clear.

Enhanced Experience

What does a house look like? In a traditional practice, it’s an “elevation.” Architectural drawings are notoriously flat; we do a lot to illustrate what that will translate to. Yet the simple translation into a “perspective view” is still lacking. It is commonly understood that the value of a single image is worth ten thousand words. When animated, a one-minute animation (at 30 frames per second) is like eighteen million words –– but even this is what the architect wants the client to see and may end up highlighting only the most potent views. Clients explore and find exciting areas when we give access to the Virtual Reality Home Design world. 3D fleshes out the areas they’ve agreed to but didn’t understand.

VR is better for the architect, too, because the possibilities are limitless when we enable the perspective to be guided by the viewer. We can build an understanding even further by giving an environmental perspective. For example, a typical rendering shows a house on a sunny day; in reality, it’s going to rain and snow. Weather variations are omitted in most design scenarios. Clients can choose those different perspectives. As a result, they emotionally engage with the project. They know they have to have it when it becomes theirs in this way.

Inspiration

As architects, we are excited about the nuts and bolts of a project. Still, Virtual Reality home design inspires the client, builds confidence in the architect, and allows the team to benefit. VR gives everyone –– clients, architects, engineers, builders, real estate –– a deeper insight into how the house will look and perform structurally and functionally. VR goes beyond a traditional set of documents. VR also leads to better numbers up front at a time when we can control it. Then, there are no surprises. Where there is ambiguity, there could be a significant cost overrun –– it was $1M for a client of another architect I know of. Check out Virtual Reality home design to see what it can do for you.

Questions to Ask

Ask your architect how they plan to communicate your design with you. A virtual reality home designarchitect will typically use tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM), the next evolution of CAD. We use a package called ArchiCAD (Graphisoft.com/us) by Graphisoft as our BIM solution. To learn more about how we can help with your project, please visit our Free Home Design Resources page for valuable tools to get you started.

See Virtual Reality Architecture in Action

Check out a commercial project using Virtual Reality Architecture using advanced visual communication tools.

Free 15-minute Clarity Call

To arrange your free 15-minute Clarity Call or to see how I use 3D & BIMx to curate a uniquely personal experience for you, give me a call. (847-412-0692)

Contact Me Today (Click here)